Bloc Party - Intimacy

Fri 19th Sep, 2008 in Music Reviews

While I loved the energy of Bloc Party’s debut Silent Alarm, perfectly produced A Weekend in the City floored me with its depth. An epic – œtheme’ album about consumer-driven modern youth, it encapsulated my generation. I’ll play it for my kids one day to explain what my early 20s were like.

It sounds like the Bloc boys have been through a tough time of it lately. From what I could gather, close friend and possibly lover Biko (namesake of the song Biko ) died of cancer recently. There are themes of death, fucking, cheating on lovers and missing friends. The songs owe their titles to Greek mythology, with names like Ares, Trojan Horse and Zephyrus.

Opening dramatically, the first words of this album are, “War, war, war, war, I want to declare a war!” Ares starts out with a slow electronic intro, but then kicks in to fast-paced drumming, with Kele Okereke’s vocals distorted to sound like sirens. Like a warning, daring you to continue listening, Okereke sings, “It’s all getting quite highly charged….get out of the way, or get fucked up.”

The siren-like vocal effect continues through the second track Mercury, with its catchy refrain “My mercury’s in retrograde”, sung over and over hypnotically. In astrological terms, the planet Mercury has been in – œretrograde’ earlier this year for the first time in a decade, supposedly producing dramatic results. Think about it, how many of your friends moved, changed jobs, broke up or got married in the first half of 2008? The song speaks of sleeping around, friends moving away, falling in love and getting in to bloody fights. The tempo and vocals sound harassed, with lyrics cynically announcing, “I’m sitting in Soho trying to stay drunk.”

I would pinpoint Halo as a radio hit, as I found myself inadvertently singing along on the third listen. The obligatory delicate love song Bloc Party has in the middle of each album is represented here by Signs, a lullaby-like tune with plinking xylophone. “Two ravens in the old oak tree, one for you and one for me, blueberries in late December…” is sung with nursery-rhyme rhythm, in the tradition of A Weekend In The City’s Waiting for the 7.18. Then bluntly, without any attempt at romanticising or employing clever lyrical allusions, Okereke sighs, “At your funeral I was so upset.” Biko is a melancholic reflection on watching an ill friend die, with frustrated lyrics “fucking eat your cancer”.

The one cringe-worthy moment comes on the hurt and bitter One Month Off. The chorus, “I can be as cruel as you, fighting lies with lies”, arrives in a burst so up-tempo it reminded me of old Britney Spears in tone. Aside from that short moment, it’s a powerful track. An echoing choir provides back-up and bass on Zephyrus, adding depth to the hollow song of a broken love affair.

The album is more erratic in theme than A Weekend In the City, one moment mourning a death and the next breaking up or falling in love. It’s distinctly a little deflated, as you would be after going through all that. While the LP still sounds unmistakably like a Bloc Party record, it is as raw in emotion as Okereke promised. What’s more, its experimental use of electronic effects takes the band in a new direction. Bring on the tour.

Bloc Party’s Intimacy is out now through Shock.